


Summer Wine and Club Soda

by CatHeights



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Community: picfor1000, Episode Related, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:59:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/700028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatHeights/pseuds/CatHeights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Audrey was like a summer wine, the perfect balance of crispness and sweetness that surprised and charmed you. Written for the picfor1000, Challenge 11.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Wine and Club Soda

**Author's Note:**

> The story takes place after the Season 3 episode, "Magic Hour (Part 2)."

Audrey was like a summer wine, the perfect balance of crispness and sweetness that surprised and charmed you. Duke had a particular fondness for Riesling wines, particularly the highly aromatic ones. Maybe he should have told Audrey in Colorado that she was like his favorite wine. Nah, it would have made things even more awkward.

Whereas, Nathan was like.... That was harder, actually, no it wasn't. Nathan was like club soda, better mixed with something, preferably both him and Audrey. Duke smirked thinking how much Nathan would dislike being described as club soda, but it fit pretty damn well. 

Duke concentrated on chopping tomatoes, as he pulled together another plate of tacos for "Nathan's welcome back from the dead party." He knew he was thinking nonsense, but pointless thoughts were better than thinking of what might have happened if Audrey hadn't managed to trigger Moira's trouble in time.

_Adrenalin flooded through Duke at the sight of Nathan on the ground, blood on his chest. He placed his hand against Nathan's stomach, but felt no movement, and then suddenly Audrey was beside him, the same panic on her face that surely was on his._

_He looked up, and saw Tommy standing there. What the fuck had he been doing when Nathan got shot?_

Duke shook his head, as if the motion could free him from the memory of the horror he had felt thinking Nathan had been lost to him forever. Audrey telling Nathan that she was the one who was supposed to go, and she'd always loved him and always would, had made Duke hurt more than he'd ever known he could for far too many reasons, none of which he wanted to explore further.

Right now, Nathan's voice was one of the sweetest sounds Duke had ever heard, particularly as he seemed to have given up being an asshole and blaming Duke for every damn thing that went wrong. He had seemed downright cheerful when Duke told him that he was heading back to oversee a special batch of tacos in his honor. He had to admit that after everything they'd been through that Nathan could have thought him capable of murder — of killing Audrey — had hurt. But he knew how loving Audrey Parker could mess with a man.

This line of thinking brought back thoughts of a time when he'd been naive enough to believe eventually, he, Audrey and Nate would all be in a happy relationship. Well perhaps happy wasn't the right word as they did live in Haven, but regardless, it would have been damn fine. He was pretty sure that Audrey wouldn’t have objected to a three-way, and between the two of them, they could have worn down Nathan's defenses. But it had been but a dream, and it was looking like he would end up alone, as always.

Duke finished putting together the last of this batch of tacos. He made a few smart comments to Sally and Wendy, the waitresses who were working that day, and passed off a tray to each of them and then took one tray out to the bar. The “Taco Tuesday” party by now was in full swing at the Gull. 

He looked around expecting to see both Nathan and Audrey, as Nathan had said he was going to find Audrey and drag her inside for tacos. Unfortunately there was no sign of either of them, and his gaze fell on Jordan, who was definitely not one of his favorite people. He couldn’t understand what Nathan saw in her, even if it was a rebound relationship. She couldn’t be trusted, and not just because she belonged to a group that wanted him dead. 

However, he had no trouble understanding what Jordan saw in Nathan, besides the obvious that he could touch her without feeling like he’d been tasered. Oh yeah, to a girl whose touch caused pain, Nathan, who couldn’t feel, was a dream come true.

He knew all about Nathan and dreams, as ever since Nathan had admitted he could feel Audrey’s touch, Duke had been having a pleasant fantasy running through his mind. No sane person could expect him to resist imagining holding on to Audrey while she touched Nathan, right? 

Duke leaned against the bar as he pictured his fingers threaded through Audrey's as she stroked Nate. The feel of his hand entwined with hers, combined with the heat of Nathan would be fantastic. But he knew that it would be the sight of Nathan unguarded, showing emotion that was more than just disdain that would undo him. 

_Nathan threw his head back, panting, while Audrey wore only her gorgeous smile._

_Duke slid a hand up to stroke her breast and then kissed the back of her neck. Audrey leaned back into his touch, as Nathan moaned in pleasure from their joint stroking._

He was broken out of that very pleasant fantasy by the uncomfortable feeling of someone watching him. Sure enough he met the intrigued gaze of Dr. Claire Callahan. Sometimes he swore that woman could read minds. Wait, no, that couldn’t be possible, except this was Haven. He tried to think of something else, which of course meant he couldn’t banish the images of Audrey naked and Nate moaning. 

_Crap_. Claire was heading his way.

She smiled and leaned against the bar. "You do know I was just kidding earlier, right? I do know how to be off duty."

“Sure.” Duke smiled. “But you’ll have to excuse me, as I’ve got customers.”

Claire smiled back at him. “Uh-huh.”

She really might be a mind reader, an ability that would come in handy for a therapist.

Duke saw Audrey enter with Vince, and noticed that Nathan was back inside as well, except with Jordan. However, Jordan whispered something in Nathan’s ear and left, and Nathan headed toward Audrey. Vince moved off, and Audrey smiled at Duke, so he headed over to join both her and Nathan, which was always where he wanted to be.


End file.
